Leaving the Party After 1 Drink

It is with bittersweet, mixed emotions that today is my last day as a FullContact employee. Just over a year into my FC journey, I can’t help but feel that I’m leaving the party early. You know those people that take a bunch of extra classes in college and end up graduating a year early, only to miss out on the best parties and memories? That’s me.

Why not stay for 1 or 4 more drinks you ask?

Great question. Well those extra classes mentioned above? For me, that was starting a company on the side called Bodeefit that has accelerated my FC graduation to today. My new journey working full-time on my own startup begins tomorrow.

So what is Bodeefit? Bodeefit is a fitness company with a technology backbone. We’re approaching the problem of “How do you remove barriers between people and health?”, and using technology as our medium to do so. We currently have apps on all major platforms that provide free daily workouts you can do without any equipment.

While I am going to miss my coworkers, our customers, and our beer fridge, I am beyond excited to proverbially jump ship and test my swimming ability. With that, I leave you with a few words of wisdom that you can only learn on the inside of a venture-backed startup with a very bright future.

1. Throw your job description out the window.

The most valuable employees at startups are chameleons. They can quickly and seamlessly fulfill any task that comes at them, regardless of whether or not it’s their responsibility. At a startup, everything is your responsibility.

2. Learn your metrics.

…and learn them some more. At a startup, metrics are everything. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and that truth holds even more true in the early stages of a company. From sales to marketing to engineering, everyone should have daily, weekly and monthly metrics that are being monitored and used to navigate the shit ship.

3. Understand the economics of stock options.

Virtually all early employees at a startup are given options in the company. In my highly unscientific opinion, I would guess the majority of employees don’t understand the potential future value of these options. If you’re in a large industry with an valuable product and a good team, you can create hundreds of millions, if not billions, in value. This directly translates to personal wealth for yourself and your family. Use this as a driving force for motivation. Which leads me to my last point…

4. Get shit done.

If there is one way to sum up life in a startup, this is it. Nothing more, nothing less. A startup is a scrappy bunch of hustlers trying to get done the work of an army. You have to work harder, longer, more efficient, and more effective than the next guy. There’s a reason startups can enter markets and disrupt Goliaths within a matter of months. This is the only time in your company history when you have the ability to move fast, break stuff, fix stuff, and move on. Take advantage of it.

To my FullContact family, it’s goodbye for now, not goodbye forever. Keep fighting the good fight. I have no doubt that this company will be making waves for the next decade plus. You have the opportunity of a lifetime to create a Billion dollar company. The only way to get there? Get shit done. All the best.